To move staves

Note. View the Positioning staves QuickStart Video for an overview.

1. Click the Staff tool  . The Staff menu appears and handles appear on every staff.
2. Click a staff handle and drag to move the staff in that system only. Measures in that system are selected automatically. Or, once the staff is selected, use the up and DOWN ARROW keys to nudge the staff up and down.
3. Double-click a staff handle and drag to move the staff in all systems. All measures of the staff are selected automatically when you double-click a staff handle.

When you drag, Finale displays the distance from the top of the staff you are moving to the top of the previous staff. The units are whatever you’ve selected using the Measurement Units command (Edit menu).

You can also select the measures of all staves in all systems you want to move, and then click and drag or use the arrow keys to nudge the staves vertically. Whenever you drag staves, subsequent staves in the system retain their spacing and move uniformly.

Moving the top staff of a system

When you drag or nudge the top staff of the first system, Finale adjusts the distance between the top staff and the top system margin as shown below. (System margins are visible when the Page Layout tool is chosen).

When you drag or nudge the top staff of any system other than the first, Finale adjusts the distance between systems.

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